Most balloon catheters have a balloon that assumes a regular cylindrical shape when inflated. Although balloon catheters generally have the ability to bend, most balloon catheters may undesirably tend to cause a straightening of a passageway when the balloon is inflated. This issue can become more problematic when a balloon catheter is being used to expand a stent in a curved passageway. Instead of the stent conforming to the curvature of the passageway, the balloon catheter and stent can tend to cause a straightening of the passageway with the resultant more acute passageway curvatures occurring at the opposite ends of the implanted stent. Because these scenarios can tend to alter the smooth curvature of a passageway even if properly stented, undesirable results can occur. For instance, the likelihood of restenosis may be increased.
The present disclosure is directed to one or more of the problems set forth above.